Conventionally, postal indicia being a monetary value, the quality of print thereof on the mail items is primordial in order to avoid any fraud or financial loss for the user in the event of rejection of the franking. Now, such quality of print is associated in particular with the number of printed data, the print of a very large number of data, possibly with complex graphic symbols, being such as to create a degradation of the print and therefore of the legibility of the postal indicia. Unfortunately, Postal Services require at the present time that more and more data, postal or not, be printed on the mail items, relative not only to the dispatch and sorting of these mail items but also to their follow-up, their valorization or securing, and this phenomenon can only amplify, as the Postal Services are regularly proposing new value added postal services.
It is known to resort to the printing of marking in two dimensions (2D bar codes) in order to increase the density of the information printed on the mail items. However, reading of such complex markings is problematic, particularly at high speed. It has also been proposed to replace the postal indicia by an electronic label stuck on the mail item integrating the postal data of this printed impression. Unfortunately, this type of mark, which, moreover, involves high manufacturing costs, requires specific coding and reading means which are not yet wide-spread among consumers and in the Postal Services.
There is therefore a need, heretofore unsatisfied, for a mail handling system allowing a substantial increase in the information present in postal indicia while conserving the quality of print thereof.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks set forth hereinabove.